So i had a little Mishap

[AquaticJamaica]

So I'm currently doing my Fishless Cycle and I was doing a water change until I heard a loud bang outside ( car accident) so i quickly ran outside and forgot that the siphon was still going. To sum it up everyone was okay and now I have an empty tank. Does that mean I have to start over or ?

 

[Samina]

Well I would say the "restart" in the process would be refilling the tank with SW and dosing ammonia back up to 1-2ppm (unless you are using some other method for ammonia source). Since all the water was emptied out, you haven't necessarily undone your cycle or removed all the bacteria; you removed the ammonia from the water to feed the bacteria and keep the cycle going. Most of the bacteria is in the biofilm on surfaces so the amount you removed when inadvertently doing a 100% water change will not significantly set you back.
How far along in the cycle were you before the water change?

 

[Dempsey941]

As long as the rock is still damp the bacteria should still be good. Just refill and get your ammonia back up.

 

[AquaticJamaica]

As long as the rock is still damp the bacteria should still be good. Just refill and get your ammonia back up.

what is the longest they can go without being damp? im waiting on a rodi unit or should I just go with pipe water for the time being.

 

[Dempsey941]

what is the longest they can go without being damp? im waiting on a rodi unit or should I just go with pipe water for the time being.

Dry rock is porous stuff even if the outside is dry the interior parts of the rock will still be wet, but I mean like a couple of hours max. I would cycle with your tap water then drain the tank down and refill with rodi saltwater.

 

[astraycat]

what is the longest they can go without being damp? im waiting on a rodi unit or should I just go with pipe water for the time being.

Once they're dry you'll probably have to start over.

If you've got chlorine/chloramines in your tap it may kill off any bacteria you've already got on the rocks and start the cycle over anyway. However chlorine will off-gas after a while if you've got some surface turbulence (not sure about chloramines) and won't impede the cycle indefinitely.

 

[Marco S]

Dry rock is porous stuff even if the outside is dry the interior parts of the rock will still be wet, but I mean like a couple of hours max. I would cycle with your tap water then drain the tank down and refill with rodi saltwater.

Are you sure this is accurate? When I first setup my tank, I filled it with RODI water and added my rock and sand and did not add salt until a few days later. I was told that all the beneficial bacteria was killed by the freshwater and I would have to start over, (I was at the beginning anyway so not much of a concern). This led me to believe that the bacteria for saltwater and freshwater are different...

I am not a scientist or biologist and do not claim that this is a fact, just throwing it out there in case it is true. Maybe someone that knows, can comment and either confirm or deny this.

Edit: To add to that, certain starter bacteria is for freshwater, (like Safe Start) and some for saltwater, (Bio Spira) which also led me to believe the bacteria is different for each.

 

[Dempsey941]

Are you sure this is accurate? When I first setup my tank, I filled it with RODI water and added my rock and sand and did not add salt until a few days later. I was told that all the beneficial bacteria was killed by the freshwater and I would have to start over, (I was at the beginning anyway so not much of a concern). This led me to believe that the bacteria for saltwater and freshwater are different...

I am not a scientist or biologist and do not claim that this is a fact, just throwing it out there in case it is true. Maybe someone that knows, can comment and either confirm or deny this.

Edit: To add to that, certain starter bacteria is for freshwater, (like Safe Start) and some for saltwater, (Bio Spira) which also led me to believe the bacteria is different for each.

I foolishly thought it was implied to use saltwater. You can use saltwater made from dechlorinated tap water to begin a cycle, but eventually you will want to switch over to rodi.

You are right on the bacteria bit, the bacteria in a freshwater tank will not tolerate the salinty of a reef and vic versa.

 

[ahiggins]

I foolishly thought it was implied to use saltwater. You can use saltwater made from dechlorinated tap water to begin a cycle, but eventually you will want to switch over to rodi.

You are right on the bacteria bit, the bacteria in a freshwater tank will not tolerate the salinty of a reef and vic versa.

My concern with using tap is all the trace elements brought over, even once the chlorine is out of it.

 

[Dempsey941]

My concern with using tap is all the trace elements brought over, even once the chlorine is out of it.

100% agree but those trace elements will be slowly removed with water changes with rodi based saltwater, the big concerns in tap water I believe are lead and copper both of which can be reduced by allowing the faucet to run for 5 minutes to clear the metals from that water standing in your piping.

Alternatively OP could use distilled water with their salt mix. I used distilled water when I first set up my 20 gallon several years back (25 (1) gallon jugs from the walmart next to my job). The only problem is I think this is his red sea 350 which is 80 gallons? So that may not be a practical option.

 

[Terri Caton]

100% agree but those trace elements will be slowly removed with water changes with rodi based saltwater, the big concerns in tap water I believe are lead and copper both of which can be reduced by allowing the faucet to run for 5 minutes to clear the metals from that water standing in your piping.

Alternatively OP could use distilled water with their salt mix. I used distilled water when I first set up my 20 gallon several years back (25 (1) gallon jugs from the walmart next to my job). The only problem is I think this is his red sea 350 which is 80 gallons? So that may not be a practical option.

If you use tap water run Polyfilter and it will remove the trace elements.

FYI, distilled water from CVS is supposed to be the best to use according to a study.